Get over it. Carter taking charge.

New Speaker of the House David Carter is doing an adequate job and looks to be a promising Speaker. The opposition is complaining rather girlishly that Carter is unable to control the house. Russell Norman’s open letter to the Speaker:

What such complaints really mean is that the proponents of such claims are unable to land a blow. Carter is starving the time wasters of oxygen to uphold the gravitas of the institution of Parliament.¬† It’s a completely different style of stewardship than that of Lockwood Smith. Smith was a perennial pixie, who played as much to the theatre of it all, as to the Standing Orders. He was well -known for impartiality.¬† Carter is a gryphon and he is not going to indulge the opposition or level the playing field.¬† And there is no Standing Order in anyone’s rule book that says he must. The opposition has to up their game and move away from the petty points of order that have become entrenched. Democracy will be the better for it.

Carter turns Hipkins to stone with his stare.¬†Expect the standing orders to be interpreted by the book.The Speaker even has a useful psychic talent. In Parliament yesterday he claimed to know what Chris Hipkins was going to say in a point of order. And then he booted him out of the chamber for insisting on continuing to speak.¬† Everything in his demeanor suggests he has more respect for the institution of Parliament than yahoos like Mallard who had outrageously requested that the Speaker sit while Mallard indulged in mischief making.¬†Mallard was told to leave the debating chamber after telling Mr Carter to “sit down ’til I’m finished” during question time.Hipkins tried to continue on with Mallards point of order which only served to get himself ejected. ¬†There is no problem with Carter. However everyone is in shock because finally there’s a real man in charge.